Paul McConnell tied for eighth and the Mavs were second at Kiawah Island.

Sept. 11, 2012

UT Arlington men's golf finished its rise up the Kiawah Island Invitational leaderboard with a second-place showing after carding Tuesday's low round at The Ocean Course. The Mavericks shot a plus-16 304 to best the 15-team field on the event's final day.

UTA made its move despite another day of challenging conditions, as wind gusts reached 40 mph on one of the nation's most difficult courses. The Ocean Course measures 7,344 yards.

"We had a really good round going," Mavericks coach Jay Rees said. "Leaked some oil coming in, but ended up with the low round of the day and we finished second overall."

"We struggled the first round, but didn't let that get us down," McConnell said. "We were determined to fight back and we grinded to a second-best round for Round 2 and the best round for the final round."

UTA was 11th after Sunday's opening round before making a major move on Monday. The Mavericks fired a 4-over-par 292 to leapfrog six teams into fourth place and carried that momentum into Tuesday.

"We worked hard through tough conditions," Rees added. "We never stopped competing and to move all the way up to second is really positive. We can build on this."

Florida (plus-18 882) won the Invitational, leading from start to finish. Houston (912) placed third. WAC rival Texas State (926) tied for eighth.

UTA returns to the links Sept. 24-25 in the Mark Simpson/Colorado Invitational.